Naming errors in healthy aging and dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Naming errors were analyzed for healthy younger and older adults and patients with a diagnosis of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT). Three types of errors were identified, varying in relatedness to the target word: near synonyms; semantically related naming errors; and unrelated naming errors. Older adults made relatively more related errors than did younger adults. SDAT patients were distinguished by the number of unrelated responses given. In addition, SDAT patients who scored within the normal range were identified by the high number of response attempts relative to the number of initial errors. We suggest that error patterns on naming tasks may potentially serve as clinical markers to distinguish healthy older persons with mild naming disorders from patients with SDAT.